1. An aquatic plant of the sedge family, the paper reed or paper rush (Cyperus Papyrus or Papyrus antiquorum), with a creeping rootstock which sends up stems from eight to ten feet high, bearing spikelets of flowers, resembling umbrellas, on long stalks in a large cluster at the top; formerly abundant in Egypt, and the source of the writing material used by the ancients.
2. A substance prepared, in the form of thin sheets, from the stem of the papyrus plant, by laying thin slices or strips of it side by side, with another layer of similar strips crossing them, and usually a third layer again parallel to the first, the whole being then soaked in water, pressed together, and dried; used by the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, etc., as a material for writing on.

Egyptian doctors showed an understanding of the importance of documentation or a written record of a patient's condition and the measures taken to address it. These Egyptians wrote on the fibers of the plant called papyrus whose name is preserved in the modern English word "paper".

As a result of the surviving medical papyri, modern historians have written accounts of observations, diagnoses, and treatments; including surgery, undertaken by Egyptian physicians. Many of these cases involved the closing of wounds with stitches and adhesive bandages.